In 1967, the Beatles released a brilliant record album (as we called them in those days) and a movie, both titled “Magical Mystery Tour.” The Magical Mystery Tour album featured classic Beatles hits “Fool on the Hill,” “Your Mother Should Know,” and “I am the Walrus.” The movie was an unintelligible, trippy mess, with the Beatles and some actors wandering around in strange costumes.
“Paul said, ‘Look, I’ve got this idea,’ and we said ‘Great!’ and all he had was this circle and a little dot on the top – that’s where we started,” explains Ringo. “It wasn’t the kind of thing where you could say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to see is the product of our imaginations and believe me, at this point they are quite vivid’,” says Paul. The film follows a loose narrative and showcased six new songs: “Magical Mystery Tour,” “The Fool On The Hill,” “I Am The Walrus,” “Flying,” “Blue Jay Way,” and “Your Mother Should Know.”
Now a revised version of the film is being made available on DVD and Blu-Ray following a brief theatrical release. Rather than being compared to the loosely filmed but tightly scripted “Help!” and “Hard Day’s Night,” it can now be viewed in the context of found-footage and music videos and is definitely worth a second chance. And the music is still thrilling.
The Inside Story of the Beatles’ First Single — Free Until 10/9
Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:00 am
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the recording of the Beatles’s first single, “Love Me Do,” the new Kindle ebook written by insider Bill Harry is free on Amazon until October 9. Find out how Ringo Starr replaced Pete Best (but did not play the drums on the final version of the song that was released), how George got a black eye, how John stole his harmonica, and how Paul was a last-minute substitution on vocals.
I am very proud to celebrate my new publishing company, Miniver Press, by offering the first five people to respond a free copy of one of our first three ebooks. Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with the name of the book you want in the title and let me know if you’d like me to send it directly to your Kindle (or Kindle app on your iPad or laptop or smartphone) or receive a copy on Word (less fancy, but otherwise every bit as good). Stay tuned for more on our upcoming titles including a new “Must-See Movie” series from me.
She was the black Amelia Earhart.
Back in the 1920s planes were made of wood and cloth held together with wire.
And back then everyone knew blacks couldn’t fly, and neither could women. But this spunky black woman from the cotton fields of Texas did loops above the Eiffel Tower, walked on wings above America, and jumped off planes to the oohs and gasps of crowds.
Bessie could also do a mean Charleston on the dance floor while guys lined up on both sides of the Atlantic. Her admirers included France’s top World War I ace, an African prince, a Florida millionaire, Chicago’s top black newspaperman, and its top black gangster.
She survived broken bones and some broken hearts. She was the first person, man or woman, to open the skies to black pilots. She helped open grandstands on the ground as well, refusing to perform unless everyone could buy a ticket.
She inspired generations of flyers. After years of neglect, she has at last been recognized as one of the leading figures in aviation, African-American, and women’s history.
Tributes include a postage stamp, a street named for her at O’Hare airport, and her photo tucked into a spacesuit worn by the first black woman astronaut as she flew on the space shuttle.
Coleman performed across the country as a barnstormer and daredevil until she was killed falling from a plane after a wrench fell into the gearbox. Or was it put there? Who would want to kill this pretty, fearless, half-Cherokee, half-black daredevil? A bigot? A jealous lover?
“Love Me Do” was the Beatles’s first single. Longtime Beatles friend and fan Bill Harry takes us behind the scenes in honor of the 50th anniversary of its release in October 1962. He tells about how Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr after the first recording session, how John stole his harmonica, why the vocal was switched from John to Paul, how George got a black eye, and the real story behind the legend that Brian Epstein bought thousands of records to get the song on the charts.
The 1914 Boston Braves had one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. On the 4th of July, they were in last place. But they went on to sweep the World Series against Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s. Their story includes Rabbit Maranville, George Stallings, Mayor “Honey Fitz” (JFK’s grandfather), and a good luck song called “Tessie.”
Jessie Rifkin listened to every number one song in the history of the pop charts, from Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool” up through this week’s “ET” by Katy Perry and wrote about it for the Washington Post. He notes that “The first 100 non-instrumental No. 1’s were performed by 38 solo acts and 62 groups, but the most recent 100 were performed by 91 solo acts and nine groups” and that George Harrison and Elvis Presley had number one hits after they were not at the top of their careers. “And only 19 instrumentals have reached the top spot, none after 1985’s synth-percussion-fest “Miami Vice Theme” by Jan Hammer.” Perhaps most significantly,
What is remembered as the defining music of an era and what actually sold the most at the time are very different. Imagine the 1960s without Bob Dylan, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix; the 1970s without KISS, the Who and Led Zeppelin; the 1980s without Bruce Springsteen, Journey and Run-DMC; the 1990s without Nirvana, Green Day and Public Enemy; the aughts without John Mayer, Linkin Park and Taylor Swift. None of these giants have had a No. 1 song — at least not yet.
Get your own sense of what Jessie Rifkin listened to with these wonderful compilations of five seconds from every number one song on the top 40. If you are as old as I am, it is the aural equivalent of seeing your life pass before your eyes. What is the first pop song you remember? What is the first one you ever bought? What’s your favorite one-hit wonder?
